Covent Garden and Billy Elliot

Last month our family was privileged to tour London with our friends of over forty years Jeff and Margo. We enjoyed many of the usual attractions such as Parliament and Buckingham Palace. However one of the most enjoyable experiences was lunch and shopping at Covent Garden.

The first impression I had was the exuberance of the lunch partakers. People were walking up and down steep steps eating an exotic dish that was bursting at its’ seams. I thought this must be what we had come for but Margo led us to a wonderful Pie Shop and we subsequently indulged in delicious meat pies. What made the truly magnificent pies even better was the pervasive air of theatre and art not as a diversion to be enjoyed sparingly but as an avocation and a reason for living.

We saw a silver statue that moved. Now this may be primarily for the young but I am young at heart. The joy by which the old man manifested his skill was something I could have watched all day. Two men on unicycles juggled and rode in place and neither lost their pins or fell.

Our first night in London we saw a performance of Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace. What a great experience! The palpable joy the troupe put into their work was electrifying. I have attended many plays including some on Broadway but I have never been a member of a more lively engaged audience.

Europe can and will get in your blood. There is such an abundance of history and divergence of culture it presents a compelling novel that you can not wait to turn the next page.